Maryland State House
Don Swann Watercolor, c. 1940s

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Maryland State House
building detail building detail
original label
artist's signature
Don Swann (1889-1954)
The State House
Baltimore: c. 1940s
Watercolor on paper, mounted on board
Signed lower right
16 x 20 inches, overall
22.75 x 18.75 inches, framed
Provenance: The Etchcrafters Guild, Baltimore
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.

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An original watercolor by the listed American artist Don Swann depicting a snowy winter view of The State House in Annapolis, Maryland. Trees cast faint shadows in the soft winter light. This is one of three original Swann works, of the same period, style, and format with snow scenes of historic Maryland houses: Homewood, Johns Hopkins Hospital and The State House. The watercolor may have been a preparatory work for an etching, as is suggested by its having been sold by the Etchcrafter's Guild.

The building has the distinction of being the oldest American State House in continuous legislative use -- since 1779 -- as well as having the largest wooden dome built without nails. It was also the United States Capitol from November 1783 to August 1784. Here General George Washington resigned his commission as Commander in Chief of the the Continental Army and the Treaty of Paris was ratified.

Don Swann studied art in Munich, Germany, and Italy, but spent most of his life in Baltimore. A prolific painter and etcher, he is best known for depictions of the American landscape, ships, trees, the U.S. Navy and college and university buildings. His work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S. Naval Museum, J. P. Morgan, the Smithsonian Institute, and the Congressional Library. The Smithsonian Institute acquired 33 original etchings for the Division of Graphic Arts. After Swann's death, his son, Don Swann, Jr. continued to publish some of his father's etchings from the original plates.

Label Verso: "THE ETCHCRAFTERS GUILD, 4201 Linkwood Road, Baltimore 10 Maryland U.S.A., THE STATE HOUSE, Original Water Color by Don Swann, Price $75.00."